So are the Fishman Fluence a bust?

[Lothar34]

I remember seeing Greg Koch demoing the Fluence pickups at NAMM last summer & thought they sounded great, but was turned off when I discovered I'd have to worry about yet another thing in my life to keep charged up, plus they were a little pricy.

I was just on AMS ordering (yet another Quilter) a minute ago and noticed they are 50% now & right around the price of SD & Dimarzio, so I'm guessing they are a fail. Anyone have experience w/ them?

 

[Al Varez]

I don't have experience with them but they just introduced new sig models at NAMM, which would be odd if they were tanking. Other people who compared them to the other passive noiseless models didn't seem to find them better, more about the same. So yeah, why bother with a battery system.

 

[supergenius365]

It seemed like a problem that didn't need solving IMO. Admittedly, I did not research them as they did not interest me.

 

[LReese]

They're nice no doubt - The big downside is a battery whether on the backplate or a standard 9v.

The attraction is they can be vintage sounding and noiseless, which they do well. Its oddly reminiscent of my guitar with 2 Suhr ML Classics and a neck version V60LP in the bridge. I'm talking a Strat set. All that for $190 at the time and a superswitch I had on hand.

They lived up to the hype.

Tip - Utilize the HF tilt, but use a resistor to lessen the effect. I'm using a 2.4K and might go a little higher on the next string change.

I'm not even getting into the second mode available.

 

[football]

The Tele set sounds good with Greg playing it. The strat set, not so much (even with him playing it). For my ears anyway. Listened to a bunch of videos. Still a touch curious to hear in person, but not enough to spend $300 to try them out.

 

[Cal Webway]

Be interested when T set comes dn at least $75.
Reports are that this set may need repair person install d/t cavity needing enlarged

 

[jklotz]

I saw a sign at our local Sam Ash that Greg is going to do a little dog and pony show about them, live and in person. I forgot the date, maybe it already happened? I'd be interested in hearing them in person. a;although I doubt I'd be willing to cut up my tele to put them in.

 

[g-mane]

I spent about a year trying the strat pickups in a couple of guitars. I never could get used to them; I thought they sounded acceptable, especially for clean tones, but they never "felt" right.

Those Tele pickups sure sound great in that Koch video, though.